Gut Reaction: Week 10 - Broncos @ Chargers

With the Broncos' 28-20 win this afternoon, Bowlen became the second fastest owner in NFL history to reach three hundred wins (Al Davis had to beat Bowlen at something).

The dude has seen a lot in his three decades as owner—John Elway, Peyton Manning, Super Bowls, and everything in between.

Three hundred wins has to rank right up there—until he gets to 301.

The Positives

Julius Thomas showed great balance on his touchdown run, but let’s give some credit to Eric Decker as well. Without Decker staying with his block (just long enough), Thomas is pushed out of bounds for a 20-yard gain.

That being said, Thomas is a matchup nightmare against anyone. Take Manti Te’o, for example. The Broncos can continue to exploit him on first and second down whenever they’d like in the future.

In spurts, Robert Ayers uses his hands to create space as well as anyone you’ll see in the league.

Demaryius Thomas’s route running isn’t just respectable anymore. It’s downright professional. With his ability to accelerate, the sky’s the limit. His only weakness, surprisingly, is his lack of physicality against press coverage. At his size, he should be destroying defensive backs at the line of scrimmage.

What to know why Knowshon Moreno is so valuable to the Broncos? Even when they don’t run the ball, he’s slippery on a check-down pass. Moreno had eight receptions, seven of which came in the first half when the score was really in the balance.

Someone told Mike McCoy that field goals can beat the Broncos, so he went for three points on fourth down. By halftime, the Chargers were down 21-6. Getting field goals against the Broncos is like making out on prom night—sure, you scored, but did you really score?

Chris Harris is so technically sound when playing man coverage, it takes a perfect throw (or a stumble on his part) to beat him these days. Did you hear anything from Eddie Royal today outside of broken coverage? There’s a reason, and that reason is Chris Harris.

The Chargers wanted to make their running game a focus today, but Kevin Vickerson and Terrance Knighton held up just fine. You’ll never confuse Vickerson for a linebacker, but the big guy had five tackles in the first half alone. That’s unheard of for a defensive tackle, although you just heard it here.

Peyton Manning is still on pace for five thousand yards passing, four hundred touchdown passes, and two dozen pizza commercials.

Von Miller is always the most athletic guy on any field. His sack of Philip Rivers was pure effort, but it sure as hell helped that he’s hauling more fast-twitch fibers than Jeff Legwold has [insert favorite Jeff Legwold reference here].

Honorable Mention: Shaun Phillips, Domonique Rodgers-Cromartie, Louis Vasquez, Manny Ramirez, David Bruton, Adam Gase (the call to get Thomas on a jailbreak screen, but out of the backfield).

The Negatives

I guess I have to tell you the Broncos should be more aware of fake punts, but the truth is, they held up well. The Chargers only had two yards to go, after all.

Wes Welker drops passes—a fact of life we all have to learn to live with.

Danny Trevathan needs to be careful about getting sucked inside against zone-blocking schemes.

I was hoping to keep Chris Clark off this list, but unfortunately, giving up even one big sack is a huge deal when you’re a left tackle. Clark is still playing well in my book; he just happens to be playing a high-profile position in which one bad play can wipe out all the good.

The Chargers never gave Trindon Holliday any space in this game. Holliday is small to begin with, but he was hardly bigger than a hobbit in this game. It must be the HD.

Demaryius Thomas should never release to the outside only to run a dig to the inside a few seconds later. It makes no sense, and therefore, I’ll chalk it up to some sort of option or adjustment gone wrong.

Eric Decker helped in a lot of ways today, but catching the ball was not one of them.

Britton Colquitt cost the Broncos forty or fifty yards of field position with some real stink bombs.

For about half the year, Rahim Moore has played pretty average. We saw once again his major weakness on display in this game: poor pattern reading and biting hard on underneath routes.

Montee Ball isn’t Barry Sanders. So why would he stop, reverse field, and go all metaphor?

The Who The Heck Knows

Nothing goes better than camouflage and orange. Nothing.

If you haven’t seen the play to end regulation in the Bengals-Ravens game, then you’re in for a treat. Too bad the Bengals couldn’t take advantage of the craziness. As a Broncos fan, though, I’m glad to see Cincy lose. And the Colts, too. It’s never too early to consider home-field advantage.

Here’s a good way to make decisions easier on coaches: ask Phil Simms what he would do and go the other way.

In his pre-game interview with 850 KOA, John Elway said that even amidst all the turmoil in Gary Kubiak’s life over the last week, Kubes took the time to text Elway to say he was okay.

At some point this season, I expect Champ Bailey will become an integral part of this team. Until then, the Broncos will continue their march to 15-1 without him.

We did not get to see how Jack Del Rio would handle fourth downs, but you’ve to appreciate the emotion Del Rio brought to the sidelines.

Is it just me, or did Derek Wolfe get held on every single play today?

Eddie McCaffrey has it right—the Broncos sputtered today when they went to their double tight end package. It takes either Welker or Decker off the field.

Yes, in the rematch, Denver will take the Chargers to the woodshed. This game was just a warmup for the pass rush Rivers will see in Denver when he can’t hear himself think.

Think John Fox watched the game or took it easy today on the couch catching up his Eric and Jessie episodes?

I don't blame him. Also, I don't think he had a walking boot or anything, so that's a good sign.

Posted by John on 2013-11-11 05:41:03

"Here’s a good way to make decisions easier on coaches: ask Phil Simms what he would do and go the other way."BUT "THE BOOK"!!!!!

Posted by Mike Birtwistle on 2013-11-11 03:53:05

It was really nice to see Wolfe get a sack today.

Posted by BlackKnigh on 2013-11-11 03:12:59

Ball wowed me. At least on his first four carries. There was one where he shook off a tackler in the backfield and gained something like 12 yards. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't Barry Sanders stuff, but he turned what should have been a multi-yard loss into a first down.

Posted by A. Joseph Kayser III on 2013-11-11 01:58:25

I think Al Davis got there in less games, because when he bought the Raiders seasons were only 14 games long.

Posted by A. Joseph Kayser III on 2013-11-11 01:56:33

This game struck me as very encouraging for two reasons mainly: one, the defense had a very good performance (forced FGs, gave up only 1 TD to a very good SD offense -the other one was a product of a short field-), and two, Del Rio´s decisions were sound and appropriately aggressive (the decision to defer, and he managed time-outs very well). The offense needs to be more consistent next week, but as long as Peyton plays like this and KC´s curse stays away from the Broncos, this team will be superior to any opponent. If only we could eliminate turnovers and convince referees to call the game well, 70% of the frustrations would evaporate.

Posted by Goéland on 2013-11-11 00:33:49

I disagree on the JT block. If he held on longer, I think it could have drawn a holding call.

Posted by DragonPie on 2013-11-11 00:01:16

"Bowlen became the second fastest owner in NFL history to reach three hundred wins (Al Davis had to beat Bowlen at something)."

To be honest, I thought the pass rush was pretty poor today. Rivers had too much time, too many times. He picked on Webster more than a few times today. Speaking of which, did Webster go back in after getting hurt?

Ball didn't wow anyone, but he did spin and lurch for a first down when contact was made in the backfield.

Moreno is just a baller. He should get more than 15 carries against the Chiefs.

Think Hali and Houston are licking their chops after the way Williams and Larry English (Larry freaking English) blew by Clark and Big O (who clearly isn't right)? Gotta believe we're going to see more than a few two TE sets next week, even if the offense does bog down. It's going to be a sloberknocker, and keeping PMFM upright should be the overriding priority.

Let's hope Peyton heal up, Champ and Duke are ready to go, and the Broncos take it to KC!

Posted by Royalwithcheese on 2013-11-10 23:36:35

TJ..just about the negatives particularly #7 through #9 Decker's 34 yard grab put us in field position for DT's 2nd TD catch.He also move the chains and got out of bounds in that 2 minute drill right before the half.Also Colquitt launched a 59 yarder in one of his kicks.And Rahim levelled a few fine hits stopping progressshort of a first down.Not Decker's best game but he did help.. and honestly?I thought that block for JT was lazy.. and lucky.. he let go of the block way too soon. I don't think that kind of mailed-in effort works most times..he was lucky.there was plenty of frustration about the lack of pass rush..but didn't see that in those 10 negatives.just FWIW IMHO

Posted by heykyleinsf on 2013-11-10 22:49:46

Love the picture of Bowlen.

Posted by Hank Mardukis on 2013-11-10 22:48:11

I'll echo a comment Doc Bear made a little while back: I don't know what constitutes holding anymore.

Posted by Hank Mardukis on 2013-11-10 22:36:29

thank you for not letting me forget about that dogshit call.I couldn't believe that either.. What is it about referees when Denver and SD get together?

Posted by heykyleinsf on 2013-11-10 22:25:12

True that... I think this was his best game so far.

Posted by helixion12 on 2013-11-10 22:19:01

I don't know if Wolfe was held on every play, but he was just blatantly mugged on a few.

Posted by Yahmule on 2013-11-10 22:04:53

So. Many. Holds.

Posted by rockethutch on 2013-11-10 21:57:29

I don't think you can leave Knighton and Phillips out of the positives. Knighton particularly looked very disruptive today. Take that back...I re-read...

Posted by helixion12 on 2013-11-10 21:51:06

Jammer is only on the field because McCoy runs a lot of Manning-esque, multiple-receiver patterns (Gates is functionally a very big WR, as is J. Thomas) and Denver, once Webster went down, was struggling for DBs.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2013-11-10 21:39:07

Not to mention making Rivers look like Michael Vick.Not sure what that was about.

Posted by Alaskan on 2013-11-10 21:31:13

If it was an illegal snap, the rest of the offensive line would have moved, with the center double clutching. It was a false start by the center. The flag should have been thrown before the play occurred, not after the fumble by Rivers.

Posted by RSH, Esq. on 2013-11-10 21:30:50

yes, i think it's an old school rule dating back to the old fumblerooski

Posted by nachoplease on 2013-11-10 21:17:45

Lack of consistent pass rush has to be a negative!

Posted by TheNortherner on 2013-11-10 21:17:05

I was under the impression that is a separate call and that illegal snap is usually for snapping it to somebody who isn't legal to recieve the snap.

Posted by DragonPie on 2013-11-10 21:14:54

I looked for Von on a few plays and didn't see him sometimes. Was he being rotated with Ayers and Phillips?

Posted by orangeandblueaussie on 2013-11-10 21:13:19

That makes sense. Thanks!

Posted by Nick (ncm42) on 2013-11-10 21:02:26

Yeah, I'm not sure of the specific rule, but the ball is what he moved. I think I've heard it called "simulating the snap" in the past.

Posted by SmileForMeNow on 2013-11-10 21:01:10

False start would have been the correct call then, wouldn't it? I only ask because I've never heard that called, on any level of football.

Posted by Nick (ncm42) on 2013-11-10 20:59:34

The center flinched before snapping the ball which basically amounts to a false start. Bad break fro Denver, but it was the correct call.

Posted by SmileForMeNow on 2013-11-10 20:57:22

Yeah, twice NANTZ said a Bronco was down when both times Chargers were injured.

Posted by Nick (ncm42) on 2013-11-10 20:54:50

1. What the shit was with the "illegal snap" call that wiped out a 13 yard sack?2. Can I buy the orange and camo hats somewhere? Please?3. Why was Jammer on the field so much?4. Phil Simms said something kind of insightful when he talked about Rahim Moore's refusal to get blocked to the outside contributing to a stop in the red zone.

Posted by Nick (ncm42) on 2013-11-10 20:53:29

"@bylindsayhjones: Manning made a point to emphasize he had an MRI a couple of weeks ago, also. "Just kind of a check-up. Hoping for a 'no change,'" he said."

Posted by underdog on 2013-11-10 20:38:48

They were awful. Nantz mixed up players and even teams! Simms is basically the (late era) Tim McCarver of nfl announcers.

Posted by underdog on 2013-11-10 20:36:43

I thought the defense played very well considering the opponent. I thought the offense played pretty poorly considering how bad the Chargers defense has been this year.

It makes sense that the offense would stall more with two tight ends sets considering that the Charger's weakness is it's pathetic secondary.

Oh, and Chris Clark's sack led to a fumble, but it wasn't worse than Orlando Franklin's was.

Posted by DragonPie on 2013-11-10 20:35:58

That's gonna make me really nervous. That he was walking around and "just" sore is maybe a little less worrying but still, yikes. Are the Chiefs gonna get another backup QB next week!

Posted by underdog on 2013-11-10 20:35:21

Sounds to me like TJ chose to listen to KOA instead of listening to Nantz and Simms. A good thing, too, as Nantz and Simms were awful today and would have easily been No. 1 in the list of negatives,

Between Nantz repeatedly misidentifying players, Simms making excuses for Welker's dropped pass and his little "32 of 32 NFL coaches don't care about the book" remark, the two just embarrassed themselves today.

Posted by Bob Morris on 2013-11-10 20:34:54

I kinda hope Fox didn't watch. Too many heart-risky moments!

As for Wolfe, no, it's not just you. He was held constantly. But don't get me started on the refs sitting on their asses & flags today.

Posted by underdog on 2013-11-10 20:34:12

Manning to have MRI tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

Posted by Steven_Searls on 2013-11-10 20:31:49

Thanks TJ, great win by the team today. The Chiefs should be having trouble sleeping this week.